You’re right, obviously, that identity verification is legally required. But that’s not really my problem with virtual cards. My problem is the lack of transparency in tracking of every purchase afterward, which your description of the trade-off leaves out. Removal of this tracking is what Monero and cash give you.
While sometimes I want anonymous payments, the vast majority of the time I just want private payments. Payments where my data isn’t disclosed beyond the merchant.
While Monero and cash can be used for anonymous payments (with significant effort on top of them), they are also the best ways to do private payments. I don’t like how you frame Monero as for anonymous payments and virtual cards as for private payments, when Monero is the way to do private payments and virtual cards are only private if you understand and intend who sees your data. I don’t think most people intend for every purchase to be tracked and analyzed.
Virtual cards do more to provide pseudonymity from your merchant than privacy. The virtual card company and its bank see every transaction, tied to your verified ID. Of course, card networks and payment processors see every transaction with a regular card too. So for tracking, virtual cards are a side grade against regular cards. They hide your details from the merchant, but add the virtual card company as another party. I’m not saying privacy or merchants isn’t important, this is a marketing issue.
Yes, I know, convenience, acceptance. But introducing anonymity here is just muddying the water. Anonymity is not a more extreme form of privacy. Anonymity could be where you’re disclosing your data freely but your identity is concealed. That’s anonymity and not privacy.
Cash does not always provide anonymity. A local florist who knows you still knows your identity when you buy flowers in cash, therefore you’re not anonymous. But no bank or payment processor learns about the purchase. The only party that sees it is the florist, the one you intend to see it, so it’s private.
This is not a critique of virtual cards. I don’t think virtual card companies can improve the privacy of their services beyond minimizing their data collection, due to regulations. It’s a critique of your marketing in this post. By marketing I mean you calling virtual cards private payments. I made a separate post about accurate marketing for payment masking services, inspired by this comment. but that’s about the websites.